A frustrated James Vowles says Williams was deprived of "quite a few points" in the Singapore Grand Prix as a result of Sergio Perez's clumsy overtaking attempt on Alex Albon.
With just five laps remaining in the race at Marina Bay, Albon was tenth and reeling in the AlphaTauri of Liam Lawson when Perez, fighting for position with the Williams driver, lunged down the inside at Turn 13.
But the Red Bull driver's optimistic move led to a contact with Albon that knocked the Williams off course and nearly into the wall, its driver falling back to P14 amid the commotion.
Albon recovered to finish P1, but it was a bitter end for Williams. Vowles reckoned that without the costly incident, a P8 would have been on the cards as Albon would have overtaken Lawson and then moved up another spot thanks to George Russell's DNF.
Williams remains a clear seventh in F1's Constructors' standings but Haas has reduced its deficit to nine points with seven races to go.
"Quite a few points on the table were taken away," Vowles said, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"It is frustrating that when you’re in a championship that’s being fought down to the point, and you’re leading against your direct rivals in this championship, to have it taken away from you hurts.
©Williams
"And without good reason either," added the Williams team boss who was obviously unimpressed with Perez move. "It was a lunge – there are sensible ways of overtaking and that wasn’t the way to do it.
"For a number of laps prior Perez was very much on the inside and trying to put his nose there. That in itself isn’t a problem, you’ve got to do aggressive techniques.
"But Alex had already committed to the turn-in point. And it’s overlapping at the back and it was contact into the sidepod.
"There was no way that was going to work. So it’s incredibly frustrating. You are into fine, fine margins. And this could be what decides the championship positions."
Despite the disappointing – and costly – outcome, Vowles highlighted once Williams' strong execution.
"The main thing is I think you can see the team really giving it their all, and Alex giving his all," he said.
"We know we were on the backfoot this weekend, but we made a set of really good decisions that actually didn't necessarily all happen in the race – the decision to have two mediums took place weeks ago.
"But that all came to fruition when that VSC came out. And the ability to take those opportunities is great. And it was fantastic to see Alex fight through again."
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